The Loop

Chapter Fifteen

There's the sound of a door opening, the creaking noise filling Scully's ears. She slowly opens her eyes and stares at the wall beside her, not bothering to turn around. She listens as the door shuts with a click and heavy footsteps - low and hesitant - begin to make their way towards her. They stop about a foot away from the bed, and after a few seconds, Scully decides to face her visitor. Slowly, she lifts herself up into a sitting position, quickly rubbing her eyes to rid of the grime they had acquired from her hours upon hours of crying. Deeming herself as presentable as she'll get, Scully turns around, coming face to face with Walter Skinner. Clearing her throat, Scully tries to sit up straighter to make herself more presentable to the Assistant Director.

"Sir," Scully begins, but doesn't know what to say. She stares at him, her mouth gaping, looking for words, but then decides it would just be better to stare at her bed sheets. Skinner draws in a deep breath.

"Agent Scully," he pauses as he searches for the right words to say. "I'm glad you're okay." he finishes. Scully says nothing as she continues to stare down at her sheets. A slight awkward atmosphere begins to form, and Skinner shifts his weight from his left side to his right. It's silent for a little while longer, as Skinner gathers up the courage to continue speaking. "I'm sorry about Mulder. He was a damn good agent, and an even better person." he finally says. At hearing the mention of Mulder, Scully's eyes begin to well up. She turns her face away to make it unnoticeable while nodding slightly in agreement with his statement. She didn't want to speak, for the fear that her voice would falter and she would start to cry.

She heard Skinner shift again and knew that he had more to say. She was finally able to calm herself down a bit, and turned to look at Skinner, her blurry eyes and tear streaked face shocking him a bit, leaving a pang of sorrow and guilt in his chest. He had sent them on the case. If he wouldn't have assigned it to them, Mulder wouldn't be dead, and Scully wouldn't be in mourning. He just felt as though most of this was his fault.

As he stood there, Skinner swallowed a lump that had begun to form in his throat. There was one more thing he needed to do while he was there. He began to reach into his pocket, getting a tight grip on whatever was in there, but not pulling it out just yet. Scully stared in confusion at his hand, then looked back up at his face, her furrowed eyebrows positioned down towards her red, puffy eyes. Skinner swallowed again.

"The - um - nurses gave this to me. They said, well..." he began to pull out the object from his pocket, his huge hand covering most of it. He brought it in front of him, staring down at it as he began to turn it over so that she could see it. Scully gasped, her hands immediately flying up to cover her mouth as her eyes widened, the blurriness in them beginning to thicken. In Skinner's hand was a small, black velvet box, just like the one Mulder had put into her hands while they were in the loop.

Trying her best to choke down a sob, she hesitantly tore her hands away from her mouth, clenching her jaw tightly as she shakily reached out towards the box, which Skinner gently placed into her hands. The feeling of the soft velvet felt so familiar. Just as it had felt in the loop. Scully brought the box to her chest, looking down to examine it with her still widened eyes, her mouth now agape.

"They said that just before he - um - Mulder, you know... well, he took it out from his pocket and handed it to a nurse. They said he was talking about you, how it was yours, and how he wanted them to give it to you." Skinner told her, clenching his jaw to hold back his emotions. It seemed that it was hard for him to tell her this.

Scully took in all he was saying, never letting her eyes leave the box. Shakily, she gripped the top and began to pull it, the box opening in half. Inside sat a beautiful diamond ring, glimmering up towards her. Scully stared at the ring in astonishment. Tears suddenly began to slide down her cheeks, a few landing on the ring. A low sob escaping from between her lips, Scully took her right hand and grabbed the ring, shakily pulling it from the box. Once she had a grip on it though, she dropped the box in her lap and brought her other hand up to hold it as well so that she could further examine it. She turned the ring over and over in her hands, watching how it caught the light, admiring its beauty, yet the very thing itself filling her with sorrow. She noticed something glinting from inside of it, and bringing it closer to her face, she saw that the ring was engraved. The engraving read "Go with it" which was a thing Mulder had told Scully to do years ago and had become a sort of inside joke between the two. Reading this, Scully let out another low sob, more tears falling down her face. Not being able to hold it in anymore, Scully wrapped her hands tightly around the ring, bringing her fists to her chest as she began to curl up, her head hanging low as she began to cry again, taking in shuddering breaths and letting out broken wails. Her eyes clenched tightly and her head beginning to throb again, Scully only vaguely felt the hand that Skinner had placed on her shoulder in an act of sympathy and comfort. A few moments later though, Skinner withdrew his hand and made his way out of the room, the door closing with a low click behind him.

Scully fell to her side, curled up and crying once again. The ring still tightly clutched in her hands, the box lie forgotten in her lap. Still crying, Scully pulled back her hands and opened them, using her right hand to grab the ring, then, holding up her shaky left hand, she tried her best to put the ring on her ring finger, which was difficult due to her not being able to stop shaking. Once it was on, Scully stared down at the ring on her finger, imaging what a happy married life her and Mulder would've had. They would've gotten to work together, bought a home at some point, and eventually even have kids. They would've been so happy. These thoughts burned deep into Scully's mind and she couldn't bear to think about them any longer. Wrapping her arms around herself, Scully continued to cry, her sobs wracking the room, her tears drenching her pillow, and eventually, she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.